Course registration moves inside GoWMU

KALAMAZOO--Western Michigan University President Judith I.
Bailey ceremonially launched the new GoWMU course registration
system today at the Bronco Mall Center Stage in the Bernhard
Center.

Bailey outlined the benefits of GoWMU for the campus community.
She said it will greatly improve the university's ability to
provide personalized services for current and future students,
as well as WMU faculty and staff. Course registration is the
first self-serve feature in GoWMU. In the months ahead, dozens
of other self-serve options will become available for students,
faculty and staff.

During Bailey's remarks, Erica Stout, a junior occupational
therapy major, demonstrated the new system using a laptop computer
with wireless connection to the Internet. The process was projected
on a large screen for the benefit of the audience. Stout is one
of two student-members of the GoWMU Advisory Board and has been
involved in developing the project since it was announced by
Bailey one year ago.

The new course registration system becomes active at 8 a.m.
Monday, Feb. 14, when students will "GoWMU" to register
for summer session classes.

GoWMU is the university's new intranet portal. Beginning with
the 2005 summer sessions, the only way to register for courses
is through GoWMU. Registration for fall semester 2005 begins
March 14.

Students can link to the login page by clicking on the GoWMU
logo on the university home page. To enter GoWMU, students need
to have their Bronco NetID (user name) and password.

In addition to students, every faculty and staff member has
a Bronco NetID and password. There is help information available
on the login page for those who don't know and those who have
forgotten their Bronco NetID or password.

Once inside GoWMU, students will go to the Student Services
tab to find links for registration. Students will see improvements
when they begin the registration process. The system will check
for duplicate courses and will not allow registration for different
sections of the same course, nor will it allow registration in
multiple courses in the same time block.

All course numbers now have four digits. A zero has been added
to the end of previous course numbers, so Accounting 210 is now
Accounting 2100.

One critical change compared to past practices involves "linked
courses," for example, a lecture that carries the letter
grade, but has a "linked lab" that is needed to fulfill
the course requirement. When registering for a lecture with a
linked lab, students must register for both at the same time,
or an error will occur, and the student must begin registration
again.

The system also enforces co-requisites. As with linked courses,
students must enroll in co-requisites at the same time.